Johnnie Walker Red plays Game Of Thrones
Funny old drink Scotch whisky, drunk in heroic quantities all over the world but still regarded, it seems, as dull old stuff in the British Isles – the bits outside Scotland anyway.
And Diageo’s Johnnie Walker Red Label, although a big seller, is regarded as duller than most – discounted in the supermarket in contrast to fancier blends (like JW Black Label) and single malts.
So an agency called Love, I believe, has been charged with another bash at adding a bit of mystery and mystique in this Game Of Thrones lookalike campaign featuring Irish actor Francis Magee. Magee, of course, is best known for a similarly croaky appearance for Magner’s cider, which presumably agency and Diageo knew about. Nice work if you can get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1xD9d71mMU
Will this engage young people, as Diageo hopes?
Hard to see quite how, on this evidence. But maybe, as in Game Of Thrones, there’ll be some bumping and grinding behind the arras to liven things up as the campaign develops.
Update
This is an amended version of a previous story where we ascribed the campaign wrongly to BBH. Apologies for that. Didn’t look like a BBH ad. Here’s BBH’s latest in the ‘Keep Walking’ global campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQAgeNM0j74